11.30.2011

The National and Death From Above 1979 concerts taking my mind off things. And lately I've been wearing the same shirt every day that I bought in three different colours, just so damn comfy. Sometimes simple is best.

11.28.2011

An excerpt from the book I'm writing, and the reason for lack of blog posts lately.

"It was a day when you know something is going to happen. I did not have a lot of work planned for my students that day, and for most of it we finished the art projects we had started before – oil-pastel trees in winter colours, on a simple background of snow and sparkles. I had to help each student individually put sparkles on their artwork, so they all had to wait their turn until I called them up, in the meantime playing with Lego or puzzles. While I was sitting at the round table helping each kid, a few girls started to hang around me, watching me pour gold and silver specks ever so cautiously onto each picture and then shake off the excess onto a paper plate, careful not to get them everywhere. Pretty soon I had six girls all sitting at the round table, mesmerized by the process. One said, “They look so pretty Ms. Deitcher! We’re going to make all the other classes jealous!” I had to agree, these pictures were absolutely gorgeous. “We’re lucky we have a teacher like you who likes to do art all the time Ms. Deitcher”, another one said. “I’m even luckier to have students like you guys”, I said back. Somehow, the strange forces of this crazy world gave me one of the most perfect days with my students on a day that would forever bring tears to my eyes. My grandpa passed away that afternoon while my students and I smiled at each other over gold and silver sparkles, and somehow everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to."

11.20.2011

Cold weather just crept right into Vancouver over the past few days, walking out of my apartment to be blasted by chilled air, time for all those heavy sweaters to come down from the top shelf of my closet.

11.12.2011

Being the sister of a DJ means some pretty mad hookups every so often. A couple weeks ago I got to fill in as an extra for my brother's new music video for his upcoming single, Don't Turn On The Lights. And for the past month I've been listening to his new album, offering up my keen musical ear to some ideas he runs by me (my uni degree is in concert piano and music education, not sure if y'all know that). But you peeps gotta wait for Felix Cartal's new music to come out, because, you know, being his big sister and all I got some serious family rights.

11.10.2011

So so so ready for my four-day weekend, not sure if it was because we had all our Remembrance Day stuff today or because the kids were excited to get off school or what but today seemed like the longest day ever, just full of work to get done and pinning poppies back on to kids' shirts after they'd fallen off for like the millionth time. Looking forward to sleeping in and watching some hockey, maybe a little across-the-border shopping somewhere in there as well, but not too much, gotta save up for Black Friday which is coming up mighty soon...

11.09.2011

Kinda glad I wore a bit of a ridiculous outfit today because it gave me something to smile about. Finding out that the people that are supposed to make things easier are actually making things harder, and realizing that working with six-year-olds is sometimes so much better than working with adults.

11.07.2011

Thought about how I came to be running my own classroom, how did I get my students started with Math and reading books, how did I come up with those writing worksheets, how did I put up all their artwork, how did I get them to be quiet in the hallways. Always wondered what it would feel like to be the teacher of my own classroom and now I've got twenty-two lil kids waiting and excited for what I'm going to do next, and the funny thing is that sometimes I don't know what comes next but here I am two months into the school year with everything running as it should be and I can't really remember how I got here but this is probably the strangest yet most amazing feeling I've had in a long time.

11.05.2011

An odd day at school yesterday, felt like I was on a bit of rampage calling my students out on things they shouldn't be doing - tattle-tales, budgers in line, a sudden need to go to the bathroom when it's time to clean up the class... Little kids are funny because they try to figure out what they can get away with. We had just finished having a 'big talk' about everything when another teacher stopped by my class and pulled me aside. "I just want to say that whenever I walk past your class, your students always look so interested in what they're doing!" Gahh then I felt like a big meanie and a strict ol' teacher, gettin mad at my kids when they don't put away the Lego properly. Gees they're just kids. Sometimes it takes someone else's kind words to put things into perspective.